Court Clears Clinton Aide In Lying Case

By NEIL A. LEWIS

Published: August 25, 1999

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24—
A Federal appeals panel today cleared Ira C. Magaziner, the chief architect of the Clinton Administration's ill-fated health plan, of lying under oath to a Federal court about the nature of the White House task force that helped formulate the plan.

In 1997, a Federal trial judge, Royce C. Lamberth, criticized Mr. Magaziner, saying that he, with the Justice Department and the White House, behaved ''reprehensibly'' and ''dishonestly'' in describing the makeup of the task force. Judge Lamberth said Mr. Magaziner and the Government tried to defend the fact that the task force deliberated in secret by falsely claiming that all of its members were full-time Federal employees when dozens, if not hundreds, of part-time consultants were members.

Judge Lamberth fined the Government more than $285,000 to pay the legal costs of some of the outside medical and consumer groups that had filed suit to require that the task force's deliberations be public.

But the three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today strongly disagreed with Judge Lamberth's finding. In a unanimous decision the panel said there was no evidence of bad faith on the part of the Government or Mr. Magaziner.

The appeals court held that the district court's findings of bad faith ''are without clear and convincing evidentiary support and that the attorney's fees award therefore cannot be upheld insofar as it rests on bad faith.''

Mr. Magaziner, a longtime friend of President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, was hurt by the charge, his friends said, and tried to clear his name. He did not return telephone calls seeking comment today, but his lawyer, Irvin B. Nathan, said, ''We are grateful that the Court of Appeals has unanimously vindicated Mr. Magaziner and upheld all of the arguments we made in this appeal.''

The case involves the composition of the task force headed by Mrs. Clinton and set up in 1993, just days after Mr. Clinton took office. In a sworn declaration, Mr. Magaziner seemed to say that all of the members of the task force were Government employees. Under a 1972 Federal law, such a task force may keep its meetings private if all members are Government employees but may not do so if its membership includes non-Government people.

The task force had, in fact, recruited scores of experts from private industry to advise the Clinton Administration on how to reshape the nation's health care system to control costs and provide health insurance for all Americans.

Judge Lamberth was at first so angered by what he called the Government's deceptive description of the task force that he asked Federal prosecutors to see if any criminal laws had been violated. The United States Attorney's office concluded in 1995 that there was no evidence that Mr. Magaziner or the Government had intended to to mislead the court.

Nonetheless, Judge Lamberth then ruled that Mr. Magaziner and the Government had acted in contempt of the court and imposed the fine, accusing them of trying to ''cover up'' their behavior.

After the health care plan was soundly rejected in Congress, Mr. Magaziner went to work on internet issues at the White House. He has since left Government service.

The appeals court sent the case back to Judge Lamberth for reconsideration.